What's In The Dark?
by AngelWolfSong
Summary: It's Halloween night in Metro City. Instead of trick-or-treating this year, Atom and his friends are spending the night at Kenichi's house. With the parents gone for the night, they agree to do a game they found online: The Midnight Game. ...But what's that over there in the dark?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**,

Atom rang the doorbell of Kenichi's house, shifting the bag around on his shoulder. Reno stood next to him on the porch, looking the house up and down. "He sure had quite the house," he commented as they waited for someone to get the door. Atom gave a nod. "Yeah, his dad is a great doctor, and his mother used to be on a world famous soccer team before having his little sister a few months ago," the younger boy said.

They both turned their attention to the door when they heard footsteps running toward the door. Atom smiled as Kenichi swung it open eagerly. "Hey, guys!" he greeted, stepping aside to let them in. "Hi Ken," Reno grinned, setting his bag down in the living room. "Where are Tamao and Shibugaki?" Atom asked him as he did the same as Reno.

"Oh, they're up in my room. C'mon, we're looking up this really cool game to play tonight since my parents will be gone!" Kenichi said before starting up the stairs with Reno and Atom following.

Atom had a bit of a confused look. "What about your sister, Aiko?" Kenichi glanced back at him. "My parents will be taking her with them. They're going to a hotel for a few days since my dad has to do a special surgery in a town a few hours away. But since I have school and stuff, they agreed to let me stay home alone!" he squeaked happily.

Atom gave a smile. "Lucky! Even being an advanced AI robot, Doctor Ochanomizu still won't let ME stay home alone," he somewhat pouted, crossing his arms as they walked down the hall. Reno rubbed a hand on Atom's head. "Yeah, probably because last time you were home alone you magically rammed your head into the wall from dancing too much to Len Kagamine and were stuck for hours!" He let out a laugh. "And when I got back I had to call the fire department to get you out!"

The boy's cheeks flushed bright red and he pushed Reno away. "Sh-shut up.."

Kenichi gave a small giggle before opening his door, revealing Tamao and Shibugaki messing around on Kenichi's latest and greatest laptop.

"Hey, Reno! Sup, Atom?" Shib said from the boy sized office chair, Tamao leaning over his shoulder to look at the screen. "Hiya," Atom greeted. He sat down on the edge of Kenichi's bed, leaning back against his hands and swinging his legs a little. "So... what is this game your looking at us playing?" Atom asked curiously.

"It's called the Midnight Game," Tamao answered, trying to use a spooky voice. Reno snickered. "Well, what're the rules? How does it work?" asked the young scientist.

Shib picked up the laptop from the table and set it on Reno's lap. "Take a look," he said. Reno started reading the rules and such on the webpage, Atom resting his chin on his brother's shoulder to read it as well.

_"1. It must be exactly 12:00 AM when you begin the ritual, or else it will not work. You will need;_

_Candles_

_Paper and Pencils_

_A wooden front door_

_Salt_

_A pin needle_

_All the lights in the house off_

_Step 1: Everyone who is playing the midnight game must write their names on a piece of paper, then use a pin needle to drop a single drop of their blood onto the paper_

_Step 2: Place the paper in front of your front door. Your front door must be made of wood._

_Step 3: Light a candle_

_Step 4: Knock on your front door exactly 22 times. (Note: The 22nd knock must happen at 12:00 AM or the ritual will not work.)_

_Step 5: Open your door, blow out the candle, and close it. You have now summoned the "Midnight Man". Immediately relight your candle_

_Step 6: Your goal for the rest of the game is to survive the Midnight Man. Everyone who plays must walk with their candle lit around the house, avoiding the Midnight Man at all costs until the clock strikes 3:33 AM. At which time the Midnight Man will leave. If your candle blows out on its own, it means the Midnight Man is near, and you have 10 seconds to relight your candle. if you fail to relight the candle in 10 seconds you must surround yourself with a circle of salt and wait until 3:33 AM. If you fail to surround yourself with salt in time, the Midnight Man will attack and you will have hallucinations of your worst fears until 3:33 AM._

_Signs that the Midnight Man is nearby:_

_* Your candle blows out_

_* You suddenly get very cold_

_* You hear a low whisper_

_* You see a black humanoid figure within the darkness_

_WARNING: _

_* DO NOT USE SOMEONE ELSE'S BLOOD ON YOUR PAPER_

_* DO NOT STAND IN ONE SPOT UNTIL 3:33 AM, THE MIDNIGHT MAN WILL FIND YOU_

_* DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FALL ASLEEP DURING THE MIDNIGHT GAME_

_* DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LEAVE THE HOUSE DURING THE MIDNIGHT GAME_

_* DO NOT USE A LIGHTER OR ANY OTHER LIGHT SOURCE IN PLACE OF A CANDLE_

_* DO NOT TRY TO TURN ON THE LIGHTS DURING THE MIDNIGHT GAME_

_* AND DEFINITELY DO. NOT. TRY TO PROVOKE THE MIDNIGHT MAN!"_

Reno felt Atom shaking a bit after reading it, as well as his chin leave his shoulder. He turned back to look at him, finding him hunched over and playing with his fingers nervously. "I-I don't think we should do it.." Atom muttered. Reno gave a snort. "Oh, come on, Atom! Don't be a wuss! Plus, I bet there is no Midnight Man; not scientific. Let's just do it for the thrill," he grinned cheekily, patting Atom on the back rather roughly.

Atom just looked away. "I don't have actual blood either, s-so..." "You have artificial blood. So you can join," Tamao blurted. Atom gave him a glare, as if saying "You're not helping!"

Kenichi gave a small huff. "Atom, if you don't want to do it, then we don't have-" "Yes we do!" Shibugaki squawked from where he was leaning against the wall. "Just because Atom is a sissy doesn't mean we shouldn't play!" Atom gave him a glare. "I'm not a sissy!" Shib marched over and shoved his face in front of Atom's. "Well, then prove it! Play it with us!"

With balled fists, Atom screwed his eyes shut and practically screamed, "FINE!"

Smirking, Kenichi opened his bedroom door, glancing at the clock. 11:30 PM. "Guys, let's go find the stuff we need, then meet up outside on the porch," he said. They all nodded, Atom rather reluctantly, and they split up to find the items needed for the Midnight Game.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**,

Tamao passed the pen and pin to Atom after he had written his name on a scrap of paper and pricked his finger to leave a dot of blood on the scrap as well. Atom wrote his name down quickly, lifting the pin up to his vision. He bit his lip as he pricked his finger, squeezing it so artificial blood welled from the small hole. He dabbed his finger onto the paper scrap and put a band-aid over his finger.

"Wow, you actually did it," Reno joshed, elbowing Atom playfully. He rolled his deep brown eyes in exasperation, now handing the pen and pin to Kenichi. As he was writing his name down, they all heard the front door close, then shut. Atom looked in the direction of the door fearfully. "Is it the Midnight Man..?! But we haven't even started-!"

"Daichi!" Shibugaki called happily when the red-haired robot teen showed up in the doorway. Atom now had a hand over his heart as his legs turned to jello and he fell back into a chair. "Gosh, it's just you," he muttered, sighing shakily. Daichi gave a small smirk. "Hey, I heard from Atom earlier today that you guys were having a sleep over. Seeing as I'm not busy, mind if I join?"

"Sure, so long as you aren't afraid of... _**The Midnight Man**_!" Reno cautioned in a humorous fashion. Daichi let out a chuckle. "I've heard of this game. No Midnight Man can scare me," he boasted. Atom looked away when Shib pointed his finger over at him. "Not for the robot! He's scared out of his boots!" "Shut it, Shib!" Atom snapped, his cheeks turning red.

Daichi gave a snortle and went over to Ken. "You have another piece of paper?" Kenichi nodded and handed him a piece, as well as the pen and pin. Daichi did just as the others had, then glanced at the clock. 11:58 PM. "Let's hurry up and get outside to do this! Got an extra candle?" he asked. From the counter, Tamao nodded, grabbing a sixth candle and handing it for Daichi.

Before heading out the door, Atom turned off the last light on (the kitchen light), and closed the door behind him. All six faced the door and lit their candles after set their papers down in front of the door. Using his internal clock, Daichi started to knock on the door, a knock each second.

_One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two._

On the twenty-second knock, they could hear the grandfather clock inside Kenichi's home strike midnight. Daichi opened the door, blew out his candle, then shut it (remaining on the porch with them). He immediately took out a match and relight his candle.

He looked back at the others, who all looked excited, Atom looking more worried of course. With a grin, Daichi hissed creepily, "Let the fun begin."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**,

It was eerily quiet as the group wandered around the house slowly, so not to stay in one place as the instructions had said. Breaking the silence, Shibugaki said, "Maybe we should split up. That way in case the Midnight Man comes, he won't find all of us." He gave a glance at Atom for emphasis, and the smaller robot glared at him. "Quit trying to freak me out!"

Reno couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, he's still scared from us watching American Horror Story two weeks ago. He'll come running into mine or Daichi's run to sleep with us," he cackled. He got a death glare from Atom. "Shut UP! I can't help it I'm paranoid!"

Tamao raised an eyebrow. "Just how paranoid are you? That's surprising to hear from a robot, even an AI one!" After asking the question he realized he must have come off rude; Atom turned and started going down the other end of the hall. "Fine, if it makes you feel any better, I'll go off by myself so you'll quit bugging me!" he yelled in a hurt manner.

They all exchanged glances, and Reno and Daichi went after him. "You guys stay together, Reno and I will be in a group with Atom," Daichi said over his shoulder. The three gave a nod and walked in the other direction.

"Atom! Don't go wander off by yourself!" Daichi scolded him after grabbing onto his shoulder. Atom frowned at both of them. "Or what? The Midnight Man will get me..?! You guys have made it plenty clear he's not real, and that I'm stupid for being scared!" he growled.

Reno gave a rough sigh. "Atom, we were just teasing you! I-"

"I don't want to hear any excuses," Atom snapped before Reno could continue, "Sure, I may be a super robot that fights crime, but I can be scared too! Even if it is of ghosts and monsters!"

"You're right, Atom," Daichi started calmly, "We're sorry. Really. We were just trying to lighten the mood earlier. Let's face it, the rest of us are scared too, but in a cool, thrilled kind of way." Atom looked down at the ground, shifting his candle into his other hand. "Fine..." he muttered softly, not making eye contact with either of them.

Reno suddenly let out an abrupt, shrill shriek when his candle went out. "Daichi! Daichi! Give me a match!"

Daichi quick handed him one, and Reno relight his candle before ten seconds was up. His hands shook a bit as he let out a relieved yet nervous laugh. "Th-that was close," he tried laughing it off. Atom had a rather perturbed look on his face. "Oh? I thought the Midnight Man wasn't real.. Why so worried?" he nearly rumbled.

"B-because, uhm, I dunno!" Reno responded, flustered.

Daichi let out a hissing laughter. "Look at who doesn't believe in monsters now!" That actual got a small giggle out of Atom. Reno shot him a glare of daggers. "Whatever! I was just following the dumb rules!"

The red-haired teen rolled his eyes. "Right, right. If that's the case, let's keep walking around." Reno let out a "hmph" and started walking again, Atom sticking close to Daichi


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**,

Shibugaki was quaking when he heard the scream from Reno, which had come from the other side of the house. "G-guys.. maybe we should check o-on them..?" he gulped. Before the game had begun he had felt excited about playing, but now he was very scared. It wasn't only because of Reno's scream, but he thought he had seen someone looking in through a window; no more than a lanky, dark figure with horrible yellow eyes that seemed to pierce into his soul.

Tamao gave a quick nod. "Yeah, let's go see what happened." Kenichi took the lead for them to go see what happened. On their way down the hall, all three jolted in fear when they heard a loud chime, realizing it was only the grandfather clock chiming from downstairs. "It's one already?" Tamao squeaked. Kenichi gave a shrug. "I guess so.." _Or the Midnight Man could be toying with us_, he thought suspiciously.

Clearing his head of the thought, Kenichi hurried up his pace, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Shibugaki found it difficult to keep up. "Hey, wait up!" He suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring down at his once-lit candle which had now flickered out. "Crap!" he muttered angrily, fumbling to get a match out of his pocket. He counted in his head to ten seconds, relighting it just barely after ten second. He gave a gruff sigh. "Close enough.. A few nano-seconds off won't hurt."

"Shibugaki!" He looked up from his candle to see Kenich and Tamao heading back over to him, with Daichi, Atom, and Reno following closely. "What happened? Did your candle go out?" Reno asked him. Shib shrugged his shoulders lazily. "Yeah, so? I got it relight, so I'm safe."

Atom's eyes almost had a dark shine as he murmured, "Are you sure it was in ten seconds...?" Shibugaki felt fear trail its cold, bony finger down his spine, but snapped at Atom. "What the hell is your problem?!" he growled, snatching the collar of Atom's light blue sweater.

The robot boy blinked his eyes a few times, a confused look on his face. "Wh-what? What did I do wrong?!" he yelped. Reno gave a shuddering sigh. "Atom, don't you even remember what you just said to Shib?" he asked. Atom shook his head. Daichi lightly pushed Shibugaki away from Atom. "This is getting weird.. I'll bet that Midnight Man is messing with us. Keep cool, guys. He must have made Atom say that."

"Pfft! That's bullcrap!" Shib complained, eyeing Atom angrily. "He did that on purpose to get back at us for making fun of him earlier!"Atom shook his head. "No, I didn't! What did I even say to you? I don't remember a thing! Last thing I remember was... was..." A concerningly terrified expression crossed his face. "I remember.. Kenichi and Tamao coming up to us, and I heard a sound behind me. Then I turned around, and.. that's all I can remember.."

Daichi looked him in the eye. "Are you sure?" Atom nodded his head, but then shook it a few times. "I also remember being in a lot of pain. Like being blown up with that bomb aimed at Robotonia all over again," he answered quietly, a chill running through his body. "He MUST be messing with us!"Kenichi agreed with Daichi. "Either the Midnight Man or being tired, which I doubt is the case."

Tamao tapped Kenichi on the shoulder. "K-Ken.. haven't we been standing around too long..?" He looked uncertain as he looked at Tamao. "I don't know. Maybe. Why?" The thin, nerdy boy shakily lifted up a hand and pointed behind Atom. Atom suddenly looked afraid and whirled around, letting out a shriek. The same figure Shibugaki had seem in the window now loomed over Atom, its long, sharp horns soaked and dripping with someone's blood, and vicious fangs dripping with venom. "_Hello, child of a Dead Soul,_" Atom heard a voice say as he stared into the figure's eyes, sounding like the voice was in his head.

Daichi looked at Atom in shock when he reached out toward the figure, his brown eyes glazed over. Daichi quick wrapped an arm around him, making sure both their candles were stable, and pulled him away from the creature. It gave an anger shriek before evaporating into a black cloud, which slithered across the floor and up Atom's leg. Atom, snapping out of his trance, shrieked as it slid up his clothing and entered him through his mouth. He dropped his candle, letting out gurgled noise of pain as he clawed at his throat feebly, his eyes rolling back.

"ATOM! ATOM!" they were screaming, shaking him madly as he started convulsing on the wood floor. Thinking quickly, Daichi picked up Atom's candle, blew out the flame, then relight it. Silence. Atom's body went limp, and the black smoke hissed out of his mouth, vanishing into thin air


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**,

Atom had been laid down on the couch, still unconscious, with a blanket covering him. Daichi had pushed it away from the wall and Reno had put a ring of salt around the entire couch. "That should keep him from messing with Atom," the young scientist said to the others. "Let's hope so," Shibugaki gulped, now feeling guilty for being mean to him before.

"Why was that thing so interested in Atom is what I'm worried about," Tamao said with a grim expression. "I was wondering the same thing," Reno said. Shibugaki, Daichi, and Kenichi all nodded. "M-maybe we should put salt circles around us, too? I-I'm kind of sick of this dumb game," Shibugaki suddenly muttered.

"I'd rather not. We'd have to go down in the kitchen to get more salt. We used a lot on making a circle around the couch," Reno said, shifting his feet around uncomfortably. "Yeah, I don't really.. feel like going back downstairs, since that's where the thing attacked Atom," Kenichi agreed, "I would rather stay wandering round up here.."

Daichi took out a bag of salt from his pocket for Shibugaki. "Here, I'll move the chair next to the couch so you can watch over Atom, and we'll put a circle around it, too. Sound fair?" he said. Shib gave a nod. Reno tapped Daichi. "Tamao and Kenichi and I are going to start walking around since we've been here for a while.. Meet up with us?" Daichi nodded, and the three boys wandered out of the sitting room and down the hall.

After setting up the chair for Shibugaki, Daichi handed him a cellphone. "If you see anything, especially trying to get to you or Atom, press '3', then '4'. It will call my internal radio and you I'll come help you." "Ok," Shib said, taking the cellphone. "Good."

Daichi picked his candle back up from the coffee table and left silently

Shibugaki played around with the phone in his hands, finding it had Candy Crush on it and started playing, keeping the sound off. He glanced over at Atom when he heard him shift around. "Atom..?" he said quietly. No response. "Hmph. Must've just rolled in his sleep," he muttered to himself and went back to the game.

A strange wisp of air blew past Shib's face, and he shook his head when it did. "What the-?" He gapped in horror as torn-up, zombie-like beings started crawling from the doorway and windows. Shib whimpered and grasped the phone- The phone! He held it up and pressed 3, then 4, and held it up to his ear. Shibugaki watched fearfully as the zombie creatures crawled closer, only they were heading toward Atom!

"Hello? Shib? What's going on?" Daichi's voice sounded from the phone. "I-It's.. there're zombies in here! Real freaky, too! And they're trying to get to Atom!" he practically screamed into the phone.

A few of the zombies were surrounding the couch, scratching at an invisible force-field the salt had appeared to make around the sofa. Atom now twitched in his sleep, his face twisted in pain. "Atom!" Shibugaki yelled, "Wake up!"

Two zombies came over and tried clawing at the invisible shield surrounding Shib, making him squawk in terror. "Go away! Go away!"

"Shib! Atom!" Daichi hollered, now standing in the doorway with an angry, determined look. "D-Daichi!" Shibugaki cried out. Daichi morphed his arm into an arm cannon, thankful he no longer needed to fully transform thanks to an upgrade. He charged up a yellow beam and blasted a few of the zombies, their innards exploding onto the floor. The ones surrounding Atom turned and screeched at Daichi, and trudged toward him. The screech had somehow paralyzed Daichi, and he gave an irritated growl, trying to move.

"Crap!" he snapped when one came up and tried to pull of his arm. Daichi gave a devilish grin and shot its head off since it had stupidly went right in front of his cannon. He felt grossed out when its guts spattered onto him, but he soon regained movement and side-stepped out of the way when the other two made a mad dash at him.

Daichi immediately shot them, and the room was instantly silent. Panting a bit, Daichi looked over at Shibugaki, then Atom. "Are you ok?" he asked Shibugaki, walking over. The boy nodded shakily. "B-But when the zombies were by him, Atom started twitching like he was in pain," he said.

"That thing from downstairs had to have done something to him," Daichi growled angrily, his arm back to normal now and he held the side of his head. "Crap, I used too much power on them..." he muttered, irritated.

Kenichi and Tamao peeked in from the doorway. "Coast clear?" "Yep," answered Daichi. "Call me crazy, but.. Let's go downstairs and get more salt.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**,

The grandfather clock struck two am when all of the boys were in the upstairs living room. Kenichi and Tamao were sitting on a love seat after pushing it right next to the chair Shibugaki was in and surrounded it with a salt circle. Daichi had picked Atom up and sat on the sofa with him and Reno, Atom's head on his lap and his legs on Reno's lap.

"Soooo... now what do we do..?" Tamao broke the silence. "Play 20 Questions or something?" Daichi opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly felt the room's temperature drop dramatically. "What the-?"

They nearly screamed as a sick looking figure appeared in the doorway. "I-It's the same thing that attacked Atom!" Tamao cried out. The creature shot him a terrifying look, and the boy hid his face in his hands, not caring about getting fingerprints on his circular glasses.

Daichi didn't notice that he had pulled Atom into his lap and was holding him protectively. "What the hell do you want?!" he spat at the being. It glared over at him with its beady eyes. "_I come to take the boy with another's soul,_" it hissed, all of them hearing its voice in their minds. _...It must be talking about Atom! He sort of has another soul in him: Tobio's!_ Reno made the realization mentally, and the creature grinned at him as it gradually strode into the room.

It was standing hardly two feet away when it lifted up its left hand and twisted it, doing a "get up" motion. Daichi nearly jumped when Atom's eyes snapped open and he sat up in Daichi's lap on his own, turning to the being. "Yes, master Midnight Man?" he asked in a voice that sounded like three voices at once.

"Shit!" Daichi cursed, keeping a tight grip around Atom. "Snap out of it, Atom!" The four human boys were terrified. "Reno, open up his chest plate and fix him or something!" Shibugaki squealed from the chair. The red-haired robot teen held Atom still as Reno lifted up his blue sweater and opened Atom's chest panel. "Holy...!" He turned to glare at the Midnight Man. "What did you do to him?!"

A horrifying grin spread across his face, dark blood drizzling from his lips. "_Oh, I have only made him my servant,_" he cackled lowly in a fake modest tone. "You sick freak!" Kenichi snapped at him, "Release him, or else!"

The shadowy man let out an echoing howl of laughter. "_Stupid child! What "or else"? You are powerless against me!_"

Kenichi reached for something in his pocket. "Or else... THIS!" He took out a bag of salt, took a handful, and threw the salt at the figure. The Midnight Man hissed in pain, his skin bubbling and dark, purple liquid dripped from the skin. "_IDIOT!_" he rumbled, turning and vanishing out the door.

Atom's eyes immediately closed and his body went limp once again, only to have him blink the deep brown eyes open once again. "D-Da..ichi...?" he croaked, a dizzy look on his face, and he gripped over his chest in pain. All of them were overwhelmed with relief that he was back to himself, and Daichi hugged him tight. "You're ok now. The next time that thing comes here, I'll kill it," he growled.

Atom felt reassured, but yet more uneasy than not. He felt like there was something that wasn't him, hiding in the back of his mind. It was waiting for the moment to come out and attack.

**(A/N: This is ****_NOT_**** the final chapter! I plan on there being at ****_least_**** 15 chapters! XD)**


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